In public restrooms it is desirable to provide for frequent cleaning and sanitation of the toilets and urinals to minimize any risk to public health that may arise from the use of such equipment by numerous persons. To that end, a variety of systems have been used. One system used in the past, known as a drip system, has used a reservoir hung on the wall adjacent to the urinal or toilet, containing a liquid disinfectant that is released via a wick or tube into the reservoir or toilet at periodic intervals, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,117. In other systems, a solid disinfectant is provided in a reservoir connected with the main flush water line such that water containing the dissolved disinfectant is provided from the reservoir to the urinal the flush cycle, and the reservoir is refilled via a by-pass line after having being emptied in the flush cycle. One example of such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,892. Another similar system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,394.
It has been found that in general such systems are complicated to use, and are prone to overflow and/or plugging of the by-pass lines or tubes after extensive use. The drip systems also tend to deliver their cleaning agents only in the center of a urinal, and do not operate to sanitize more remote comers of the urinal. In addition, it is to be appreciated that the deodorant/disinfectant used therein will be depleted over time and that such systems generally require a periodic checking of the deodorant/disinfectant solution to assure that the system is still performing its intended function.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a sanitary conditioning system for urinals and toilets which is simple to install and free of overflow or clogging and plugging problems, and in which provides appropriate notice to maintenance personnel for replacement of the deodorizing/cleaning agent element.